Zhu County Ling is particularly sad this year, now the imperial treasury is empty, and there are many taxes to be paid, in addition to the field tax (inherited from the Tang Dynasty, the tax of the five dynasties), the body tax (the tax to be paid by men between the ages of 20 and 59), and the miscellaneous tax (the combination of miscellaneous taxes other than the above two items), this year's "branch transfer and change" is extraordinarily large.

The first three items still have a fixed number, this "branch transfer and change" is different, the change of the tax name is the most arbitrary, although it is floating, it is indeed the largest number of taxes, this year alone is equivalent to five times the other taxes,

Chen Yuanwai has no hope, the one who has been hollowed out is planning to give the only remaining real estate and a few acres of thin land to Zhu County, but Zhu County's order is useless, and it can't be discounted at the end of the year, not to mention that it is not clear where he will be an official after the New Year.

Zhu County ordered the master to take out the county's household registration book, patted his head and counted, the larger household in the county is Wang Anshi's family, Wang Anshi can not be regarded as an official household now, but it is the main household with land, but after all, Wang and Wu are the people of Linchuan, although Wang Anshi is a private household, but his marriage Wu family is a prominent family in Linchuan, Zhu County Ling wants to send to Wang Anshi's family, but he does not dare to be hard, so he came in person with a drum in his heart,

Zhu Xianling's arrival was quite coincidental, when he came, Wang Bi and Yuan Ze had just returned from outside,

Today, the little brothers finally visited the last one, found a tavern in the county town at noon, ordered a few dishes and drank two sips, and discussed that they could have a good chat with their father when they returned to the house in the afternoon.

"What's the matter, I'm used to eating the delicious food of your house and Jinxiulou in the capital, don't you feel unpalatable when you eat the things of this county again?" Yuan Ze looked at the king absentmindedly eating,

"Shh The king used the sleeve of his robe holding the chopsticks to block it, and pointed to a table not far away.

At that table, a middle-aged man in his forties and fifties was drinking alcohol, and muttered as he drank, "Isn't it embarrassing for me?" ”

"Who is he talking to, is he drinking too much?" Yuan Ze noticed that there was no one else at the man's table.

"Isn't this the person we saw when we came that day?" And the king whispered,

"Like, you remember."

Of course, Wang Bian remembered that if it was really like what Yuan Ze said, this Chen Yuanwai was really worthy of sympathy, seeing this Chen Yuanwai like this, he seemed to be making up his mind, only to see him sigh, and after drinking the wine in the bowl in one breath, he made up his mind, put the wine bowl on the table, and shouted: "Xiao Er, call your shopkeeper." ”

The shopkeeper was on the counter, how could he not hear such a loud greeting, and hurriedly walked over in person: "Outside Chen, what do you have to say." ”

Chen Yuanwai blushed, and said for a long time: "This liquor tax ......"

The shopkeeper snorted: "This, Chen Yuanwai, you also know this wine tax, and you have paid everything that should be paid." ”

"I've handed over the ones that should have been handed over, but the extra ones were all from me...... You see that this year is at the bottom, are you still ordered? Chen Yuanwai, who was still patting the table just now, suddenly softened his tone,

"That's what I said, Chen Yuanwai, you are our old customer, we are also a small business, you said that you padd, how to pad, we don't know how much, now you let me pay it back, how can I pay it back, or else, I invite you to this meal today, usually you take care of our street business, you don't have to be difficult for us." The shopkeeper's face was embarrassed,

Listening to their conversation, the other table people sighed quietly, others really can't talk about this matter, to say that this restaurant should indeed pay all the money, and it is also their duty to do business, but they also have difficulties in paying other taxes.

But this Chen member is really pitiful, what he said is also the truth, usually the government sends him to do it, he doesn't dare not do it, but he is not like the two errand soldiers who invited him, he can be ruthless and pull his face,

Chen Yuanwai looked at the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper also looked at him, this shopkeeper's expression, a look of grievance, and he was also an honest person, not to mention Chen Yuanwai, even the king couldn't stand up when he encountered such an expression,

After a long time, Chen Yuanwai sighed: "This wine can cost dozens of dollars." As he spoke, he took out dozens of copper coins from his bosom and put them on the table, limped and hung his head and turned around and walked out of the tavern.

"It's pathetic." Some of the people who ate in the tavern whispered,

"You said that if you are strong, you can control the river and repair the city, and you can count it, if you have good legs and feet, you can still help the government transport supplies, send a document or something, this Chen Yuan is difficult enough for him to take over this tax collection errand."

I also listened to the person at the side table and said: "It's not easy to do any errand work on the stall, and the river is repaired, if you catch up with the busy farming, you still have to do this errand service, or help the officials to do the work of their fields, and no one takes care of the land at home, which is also a loss, or the job of sending something is better." ”

"Send something, you don't know that there is a family in the neighboring county who is also a rich family, so you put on this job, but the things on the road were lost, and the county official said that it was gold and silver, and the family was compensated according to the price."

"That's no different from this Chen Yuanwai, in short, our people are unlucky, and we have to pay all kinds of taxes, and we have to take manpower."

The people in the tavern talked a lot, some were unhappy for Chen Yuan, some sighed, and some scolded: "You say, which dynasty and which generation is not the same land, let the farmers get rich first, just now this official house, the original official is still an official, the original big family is still a big household, just us ordinary people are unlucky, a little better will be spread on the tax stall on the errand, and the officials will not speak for the people, this is what kind of bullshit court bullshit officials." ”

The shopkeeper was frightened when he heard this: "This gentleman, drink to dissipate your anger, let's not mention the affairs of the government, don't mention it." As he spoke, he quickly poured wine for the scolding bullshit court,

Wang Pan couldn't help but smile when he saw this, this person spoke boldly, but he has never talked about state affairs in public, which is also a law, but Yuan Ze snorted unconvinced, Wang Pan looked at Yuan Ze's face with some anger, and asked with a smile: "What's wrong with you, do you also think that the government is inactive." ”

"What are they talking about, the court has the difficulties of the court, and the officials have the difficulties of officials, you just say that our father, after working hard for thousands of words, isn't it for the sake of the people."

It turned out that Yuan Ze was upset for his father Wang Anshi: "Hurry up and eat, you said that our father is a good official, but it is just a book of ten thousand words, and the court has not implemented it, so you can't blame people for saying that people have freedom of speech, which is a basic human right." ”

"What right." Yuan Ze looked at the king inexplicably: "What are human rights, I know that only when you are an official can you have power." ”

Wang wanted to give Yuan Ze a lesson, but after thinking about it, what Yuan Ze said now is not unreasonable, seeing that the two of them have eaten almost enough, he called Xiao Er to settle the bill and walked out of the tavern,

The two brothers led the horse, walked forward along the street, did not take a few steps to listen to the sound of disputes in front, followed the sound to look over, a restaurant in front of Chen Yuanwai is arguing with a few big men about something, this restaurant is obviously the largest in the county, the restaurant decoration is in the middle and upper class, there are people on the second floor of the building who are watching the excitement, many of them are greased and powdered courtesans,

It seems that Chen Yuanwai came out of the tavern, and urged the account all the way down the street, several big men pushed Chen Yuanwai out of the restaurant, and Chen Yuanwai, who was already lame, stood unsteadily, and staggered to the ground, causing the lively courtesans to laugh at the restaurant.

Chen Yuanwai stood up, patted the ridicule on his body, and still said to a few big men: "A few masters, our business is so good, should we let the shopkeeper pay this tax?" ”

"Go, go, what to pay, I don't know." A big man bombarded this Chen Yuan,

"Look," Chen Yuanwai took out a small book from his bosom: "Look, these are the taxes of the past year, we haven't paid this point, and now I have trouble a few people to tell the shopkeeper, I have to do this difference." ”

"You still dare to ask our shopkeeper for money, you let the county master ask for this money, our Miss Liu is thinking about him."

The words of a big man caused everyone to burst into laughter, and some looked upstairs, and one of the courtesans raised his eyebrows and scolded: "Dead Zhang San, if you don't speak, I'm afraid that someone will sew your mouth shut." ”

"Masters, don't tease, these are all under the pad, anyway, give me some after a year." Chen Yuanwai is not dead,

"You cripple, don't get out yet, are you looking for a fight?" He grabbed Chen Yuanwai's collar and snatched the account book, just about to tear it, his wrist "banged" and was grabbed, and as soon as he let go of the account book, it was taken away.

In the past half a day, Wang Bi really couldn't stand it, and he knew from listening to what he said, this restaurant often came by the county order, and there were a few arrogant people who blocked things.

Halfway through, he didn't even expect Chen Yuanwai, he was stunned for a moment and looked at the king, but Zhang San and the others stopped doing: "Stinky boy, where did you come from, are you looking for a fight?" ”

Chen Yuanwai hurriedly stopped the middle: "It's okay, it's okay, the shopkeeper is not here, I'll come back another day." As he spoke, he pulled the king along: "This son, let's go, let's go." "It seems that he is very afraid of fighting,

Wang said with a smile: "My son came from the capital, and he hasn't been beaten for three days, so he is uncomfortable, and he will trouble a few people to beat me." Saying that, he pushed Chen Yuanwai away: "You hide, don't splash your blood when you fight for a while." ”

The girls upstairs all looked straight, where did the young and handsome offspring come from, and some screamed: "Downstairs boy, come up and talk." ”

"Hi~" Wang next to him waved his hand upstairs, and suddenly there was a burst of screams and laughter on the second floor,

The big men downstairs looked at each other, this kid is really looking for a call, will he still be in the mood to laugh with the girls?! I don't know who shouted, "Hit him." ”

This frightened Chen Yuanwai and Wang Yuanze, but Wang Bian shouted: "It's okay to fight, don't hit me in the face." ”